Toy washing machine



Oct. 28, 1952 G, w] THELIN 2,615,280

TOY WASHING MACHINE Filed July 9. 1947 3 Sheet s-Sheet 1 .00 A/5F wasFAsT sz.ow-- H /4 Inveniqzr Geo rge W Thehn 2 g a a, 1%, M MM gu 1952'G. w. THELIN TOY WASHING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 9. 1947 I6I nvenior: WThGY/i/ZZ. rMM uEli/Zys 6802' e i flmzlim,

G. W. THELIN TOY WASH Oct. 28, 1952 INC MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet :5

Filed July 9. 1947 In eni/ op' George WTheZz/fl y M,M,JW, MMO'M PatentedOct.28, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFF-ICE,

'TOYQWASHING MACHINE George'w;ThelimNevvton; Mass.

. ApplicationJuly .9, 1947,.Serfial .No.-'Z59,7l-9

7 Claims. (o1; 46- -14) '1 This invention relates to amusement devicesin the nature of toys, and is concerned with a toy whichsimulates awashing machine by the creation of an illusion that articles such asdolls clothes, for example, are being tumbled about in a chamber,washed, rinsed, and spun dry. This illusion involves the provision ofseparate inner and outer chambers, the inner one for clothes and theouter one for water, the outer chamber having transparent walls throughwhich the inner onemay be viewed, together with appropriate means,either hand .or power operated, for rotating both chambers, and meansfor causing turbulence'of the water when the chamber containing thewater istrotated. By

varying the speed of rotation, various illusionary effectsof washing,rinsing, and spin-drying are achieved by the provision of suitable meansassociatedwith the water chamber. 'Thus a child is amused by theillusionbut without any contact whatever with the water and without danger ofspilling the same.

' The invention will best be understood by reference to the followingdescription when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings ofone specific embodiment thereof, while its scope will be pointed outmore particularly in the appended claims.

-In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a toy embodying the invention.

2 is a vertical sectional view .online 22 .ofFig. 1; and

3 is a vertical sectional view on line 3-3 of Fig.2.

-Referring .to the drawings and to the embodiment illustrated therein asan example; there is shown a .toy comprising a housing 4. (see Fig. l)of. appropriate construction, made of wood or'metal, the one shown beingof sheet metal, for example, and having a front Wall 6 (see Fig. 2) arear'wall 8, side walls It a top cover 12,

and a bottom It, all suitably constructed and arranged and having thegeneral appearance of a washing machine. The bottom l4 may be providedwith feet such as rubber cushions IE to rest upon a floor or othersupport.

"I To. carry out the effect of a washing machine,

.the' front wall 6 is provided with an opening it,

which, as will presently appear, is occupied by the front end of arotatable assembly including a drum 2:! presenting an inner chamber 22to receive a dolls clothes, for example, said drum having an open frontend 24 normally closed by a cover of novel construction comprising twotransparent'walls' 2s and 28 through which the inner chamber may beviewed, to carry out the illusion. To further this effect, these wallsare separated by a chamber 30 to contain a liquid such as water 32,. asufficient amount of which is permanently sealed in the chamber toproduce the desired effect. The transparent walls are sealed as bysealing rings 34 audit in a ring orlbezel 38 provided with a flange 40directed radially inward to hide thejwater at times, as will presentlyappear. A'flange 112., directed radially outward, has the appearance ofclosing the front opening 18 ofthe housing. The ring or b'ezeltil maybemade of cast metal or molded plastic, for example, and has ribs 44contacting the internal surface of the drum 28 rather snugly butenabling the cover to be withdrawn for- 'wardly to permit the chamber 22to be charged and emptied as desired. Finger recesses 46' .en-.

able the users fingers to be inserted behind the flange 42 to pull the.cover from its position in the front end opening of the rotatable drum.

To provide theidesirecl turbulence of the water of water is visible. 'Asthe dolls clothes are visible through the transparent walls at alltimes, the.desiredillusionsof immersion in water, tumbling and.turbulence, and spinning to dry the clothes are produced, yet withoutthe undesired spillingf of water with consequent possibility of damagetohouse furnishings and to the house itself as by leakage through afioorto a ceiling.

In the present. example, the described rotor is suitably mounted forrotation about a hori- .zontal axis, as bythe provision of a rear stubshaft 52 (see Fig. 2) attached to the-rear end of the drum 20 andturning. in a suitable bearing 54 in the rear wall 8. The front end ofthe rotor is suitably supported as'by a set of rollers or wheels 5d, of.rubber or other noise deadening material, for example, turning on fixedstuds 58 on brackets 66, and resting against-the externalcylindricalsurface of the rotor.

Rotation of the rotor may be accomplished by hand or by power. Ifaccomplished by hand, the hand will regulate the speed as desired. Ifaccomplished by power, a suitable motor such as an electric motor 62(see Fig. 2) may be employed. While variable speed motors and suitablecontrols such as rheostats are available, in the present example I havechosen to employ a speed-reducing and speed-varying mechanism betweenthe motor and the rotor. Many mechanisms for this purpose arecommercially available and may be employed. The one which I have chosento employ is a variable-speed, friction-drive affair affording a doublereduction, and a wide speed variation.

To this end, there is provided a sleeve '64 having affixed thereto twopairs of friction disks 66 and 68, the disks of each pair being in thenature of springs which press toward each other with resilient pressure.Th disks 66 receive'between them a disk it ainxed to the drum 20, andthe disks 68 receive between them a disk 12 affixed to a motor shaft 74.The sleeveffi l turns on a stud i6 whose positionv is suitably variedtoward and from the motorv shaft as by mounting the same on a rocker 18fulcrumed on a stud 80 affixed to the rear wall 8 of the housing.Rocking of the rocker l8'is conveniently accomplished as by rod 32aflixed thereto and extending therefrom upwardly through a slot 84 in anofiset 86 in the rear wall of the housing. In this example, the currentto the motor is controlled by a double-pole, single-throw switch 88 ofappropriate construction, the one herein employed being coordinated withthe speed control as by having an arm 90 contacted by the rocker 18 asthe speed varying mechanism reaches its lowest speed. Cables 92 and 94,one to the motor and one to a plug '96, conduct current to and from theswitch.

The control rod 82 (seeFig. 2) extends upwardly through a second slot 98in the housing and has a .U-shaped terminal portion I which straddles anarcuate flange I02 at the top of the housing and serves as an indicatorcooperating with suitable markings on the flange, such as oil,indicating current shut oil", Wash indicating slow-speed wash position,Rinse and Spin-Dry, the high-speed position, with the indications Fastand Slow associated with arrows. From the Ofi position, a slightmovement closes the switch and starts the motor. Further-movementincreases the speed through the Wash and Rinse positions to the Spin Dryposition. Reverse movement of thecontrol rod reverses this cycle.

Having thus described one embodiment of the invention, what I claim is:j

1. In a toy which simulates a washing machine, the combination of acylindrical rotor having a dry chamber adapted to receive articles suchas a dolls clothes, said chamber having a viewing opening, a closure forsaid opening comprising a sealed chamber having transparent walls andadapted to contain liquid such as water, means in the second-namedchamber to cause turbulence of the liquid therein, and means to rotatesaid rotor to agitate the articles in the first-named chamber and theliquid in the second-named chamber. I

2. In a toy which simulates a washing machine, the combination of acylindrical rotor having a dry chamber adapted to receive articles suchas a dolls clothes, said chamber having a viewing opening, a closure forsaid opening comprising a sealed chamber having transparent walls andadapted to contain liquid such as Water, the liquid chamber having aperipheral opaqu wall portion and means to rotate said rotor to agitatethe articles in the first-named chamber and the liquid in thesecond-named chamber, said rotating means including a motor to drivesaid rotor, and means to cause variation of the speed of said rotorwhereby at a relatively higher speed the liquid is centrifugallyconcealed by the opaque wall portion.

3. In a toy which simulates a washing machine, the combination of ahousing, a rotor rotatably supported on said housing and having achamber to receive articles such as a dolls clothes, said chamber havingan opening for insertion and removal of such articles, a readilyremovable closure for said opening having two transparent wallsseparated by a chamber to receive liquid such as water, the articlechamber being viewable through said walls and through the liquid chamberbetween ,them, vanes in the liquid chamber to cause turbulence of theliquid therein, opaque means about the periphery of the transparentwalls at times to conceal the liquid, means to rotate said rotor toagitate the articles in the article chamber and the liquid in the liquidchamber, the rotating means including a motor to drive said rotor,variable speed control means for said motor including a lever pivoted onthe housing, and indicia on said housing in predeterminedmotor-speed-representing juxtaposition to said lever.

4. A toy simulating a clothes washing machine comprising a supportingframe, a rotor thereon with means to rotate the same, the rotor havingan inner chamber accessible to a wash load and an outer chamber sealedfor liquid and having transparent walls through which the innerchamberand contents may b viewedwith the effect of subjection of the load ofthe inner chamber to the liquid of the outer chamber, and turbulencecreating means for the liquid of the outer chamber, whereby an illusionof a washing action upon the load is aiTorded.

5. A toy simulating a clothes washing machine, comprising a support, awash-load chamber on the support, and a sealed liquid chamber rotatableon the support, the liquid chamber having opposed spaced transparentwalls arrangedin relation to the load chamber as a window theretothrough which the load appears as though immersed in the liquid of thewindowing sealed liquid chamber, variable speed rotating means for theliquid chamber, the latter having a peripheral opaque Wall portion forconcealing the liquid centrifugally at relatively high rotative speed ofthe liquid chamber, the latter also containing turbulence-creating meansfor the liquid, whereby at difierent speeds of the variable speed meansthe illusion is created of immersion of the load in the liquid, of aturbulent washing action, and of a spin-drying action.

6. A toy simulating a clothes washing machine, comprising a housing, awash-load chamber rotatably supported on the housing, a sealed liquidchamber also rotatably supported from the housing and having opposedtransparent Walls, the load chamber having an opening in visual linewith the transparent chamber walls whereby the illusion of subjection ofthe load to the liquid is afforded, rotating means for both chambers,the liquid chamber having an opaque peripheral portion adapted toconceal the liquid under centrifugal action under rotation of the liquidchamber at a relatively high speed, and the rotating means beingvariable to afiord such speed and alternatively a lower speed.

7. A toy simulating a clothes washing machine, comprising a housing, awash-load chamber rotatably supported on the housing, a sealed liquidchamber also rotatably supported from the housing and having opposedtransparent walls, the load chamber having an opening in visual linewith the transparent chamber walls whereby the illusion of subjection ofthe load to the liquid is afforded, rotating means for both chambers,the liquid chamber containing means for creating turbulence of theliquid under rotation of the liquid chamber.

GEORGE W. THELIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Bauermeister Apr. 13, 1920 KeeOct. 23, 1923 Pahl Feb. 7, 1928 Jacobs Nov. 27, 1928 Skolnick Jan. 17,1939 Tapner Feb. 3, 1942 Breckenridge Sept. 22, 1942 Jorgenson Mar. 9,1943

